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SIGNATURE PATRICK F. QUAN
TITLE SECRETARY
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
The Growth Fund of America, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of
The Growth Fund of America, Inc. (the "fund") for the year ended
August 31, 1997, we considered its internal control, including
controls over safeguarding securities, in order to determine our
auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the
financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form
N-SAR, not to provide assurance on internal control.
The management of the fund is responsible for establishing and
maintaining internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility,
estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of controls. Generally,
controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to the entity's
objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes
that are fairly presented in conformity with generally accepted
accounting principles. Those controls include the safeguarding of
assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors or
irregularities may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of
any evaluation of internal control to future periods is subject to
the risk that it may become inadequate because of changes in
conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and operation may
deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily disclose
all matters in internal control that might be material weaknesses
under standards established by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in which the
design or operation of any specific internal control component does
not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that errors or
irregularities in amounts that would be material in relation to the
financial statements being audited may occur and not be detected
within a timely period by employees in the normal course of
performing their assigned functions. However, we noted no matters
involving internal control, including controls over safeguarding
securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined
above as of August 31, 1997.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of
management and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
September 26, 1997
Los Angeles, California
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